River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-05-19
HOUSING AROUND.

our trials and tribulations, and ups
and downs rs poor Aunty Wyatt used
to say in class meeting before she
reached the pointof exaltation in which
she was in TIE third heavings." as she
always put it.
Professor o. Howe Greene called
last evening on his way home from the
funeral of his deceased grandmother
He was telling about the next meeting
of presbytery, to be followed by the
woman's missionary society in his viii
lage, and how very difficult it was TO
find entertainment for the women, es-
pecially. This set US to thinking.
After we went to bod we thought about
it, and in our worry we turned our pill
low over and over, We laughed silly
when we remembered one day at the
sewing circle the talk turned in this di-
rection, and we had so much fun COM
pairing notes.
How many women away out in the
country dread the Summer for the COM
pany it brings. They get so worn out
with heat and care and anxiety that
| they are left stupid and cross, and the
losers instead of the gamers.
No one likes TO talk on this subject
We don't want to be inhospitable, but
how often the gain is all on the other
side.
We pity our city friends When the
country puts on its holiday attire and
everything becomes so beautifed, some
times they are tempted and go where
they are not wanted. They forget that
the farmers wife needs recreation, too.
Not many visitors would be trouble
some if they observed few rules some
of these:
Wait for an invitation. DO notquar-
ter yourself on fifth cousin during the
busy season without consulting her
convenience in fixing time, length and
arrangement of your sojourn. Make
as little trouble as possible when you
are her guest Tact and observation
will show you what to do and what TO
avoid.
Adapt yourself to the habits Of the
family, Allow them Il little privacy
BE blind and deaf to all you see and
hear. Assume no superiority they
may be vastly your snperiors. You
can not always see through the frecbles
and the tan. BE well-bred, consider
ate, consistent, and full of pleasantly
and good cheer, ready and willing TO DO
good at all times. Do not talk about
them after YOU have gone away.
A lovely girl whom we all admired,
orphaned in her childhood, used to be (
one of our Summer visitors. She had !
the browning fault that annoys country /
people exceedingly. She would keep |
our breakfast waiting while she fixed up
her bonnie brown hair the one beautiful /
way she always wore it, tossed up into /
loose-lying curls and tresses above her I
forehead and ears. The men and boys |
and the waiting horses would all champ /
and move uneasilY and bide her tartly !
ways, and often to be out of patience. /
eat hurriedly, fly to their work, and I
have bad send-oif for the long summer I
DAYS. We can not tell how much it 4
grieved Us and how annoyed we were .
through that poky girl visitor. In every /
other way she was charming and we all /
loved her dearly.
Two ladies used to visit rs, second I
cousins of dear old Grandma Ricketts,, /
who had the one fault, too, They liked !
to sleep two hours longer than our fam
lily, They said they were never hungry
mornings, all they wanted was bread
and butter and coffee. This plan
worked well, but after while the odor
of the roast veal was Appealing, and
they thought they could stand "a very
small piece, cousin. and and oatmeal
steamed was wholesome, and it was
$50 proper for the bowels, cousin, and /
poached eggs fresh from the nest
among the current bushes or the cedar
shavings were so much better than "0ld
stale city eggs, cousin" And after n
while, about the time our work was
done up and the churning ready TO
rinse down and gather, and the hot
sunshine streaming in ut the East win
dow, they could order meal as clipper
as if they were at 4 hotel. And this
from woman who did all her own
work. rose early, got the hands off to
the field in fine time. MIXED three COWS
sent four babies to school with their
dinners in basket churned, washed
and ironed and-oh you know, some of
YOU women readers have ''becn there
yourselves and know about it,
But the '.fruit and berry cousin are
the funniest. They know by the same
instinct as does the robin when tomake
their raids and "go see our dear cousin
on dear mothers side, a very plain, in
nocent sort o-family-y-e-e-e-s. Our
strawberry cousins came last year right
in the busy, hurried time, when we were
heels over head in work that conilicted
powerfully. She is Ruhama, was mar
ried TO cold man Ricketts," half
brother, and when he died she married
a son of the Disciple preacher, man
who followed the preaching business
because his father done it before him.
Kind of family trade. He came to
rest. He said he .pegged out, what
with preaching twict every Sunday and
at school houses weekday nights. sleep
ing in other peoples beds, and all. it
made the Marster's work very hard.
They had three little children dear
little tigers they were. and they stayed
a fortnight, She had put a few cans in
under the buggy seat TO fill with fruit |
while they staid and ''helped pick the
crop" with Us. 1t was a long two
weeks. The door knobs were sticky
with Jam, and the cupboard door was
on the swing every few minutes, the
cat was up in Il tree for safety with her
tail furred up furiously, the young
chickens went limping, milk split on
the carpet, cake crumbs in the aqua
rum among the minnows, the house
plants were looking bedraggled and
'bused, stones and sticks flying in pun
suit Of baby offenders, stains on table
linen, and everything out OF order and
going to skies and scvens. And she.
the half-brother's married widow, was
like all women visitors and women
boarders-like CroA'ut said Of Mrs.
Greeley geographically, she was
..always washing something.
Dribs Of suds. and dribs Of rinse.
and of starch. and "hings" in all
stages Of publication were hanging,
lying, standing. soaking. clear starch
ing and driving, all about the Ricketts,